November 15, 2007
The 30 Page Slump
So. I’m still plugging away at NaNo, shockingly enough. I hit the 14K mark around the beginning of the week. The goal is to write 2,000 words a day, but that just doesn’t seem to be working. Most of the time.
Sometimes, though, I have this incredible surge of writing and I sit and go for about an hour nonstop. It’s a Zone Moment.
Anyway.
I was talking with some writing buddies the other night and one of them hit on something that made a lot of sense. She said she can write the first 30 pages and then she gets stuck. Nada. Zilch.
So I started thinking about my own writing and I realized - I do the very same thing. I get about 30 pages in and then…nothing. Not.a.damn.thing.
With NaNo this year, I’ve forced myself to sit down and write something almost every day. I say almost because I haven’t been at the keyboard every day like I should have. But sometimes life interferes with the writing, sadly, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it but accept the fact that Life is in the bloody way.
But I digress. Again.
I realized as I started working back on my WIP I’m doing for NaNo that I had the 30 Page Slump and that I stopped writing the book just becuase, well, I didn’t want to write anymore. I can tell you, I still don’t want to write. Especially when it feels like my head is going to explode (frigging allergies) and the last thing on the planet I want to do is sit down and write. For this month, while I cough and hack away, I forced myself to sit down and write those scheduled words whether I wanted to or not.
One day I got 2500 words in and I felt totally awesome. The next day…nothing. The next day 500. The next day 1000. Once I started back on the book again, I realized…hey I kind of like this book. I kind of like these characters. I kind of like the storyline. I still kind of don’t have a plot.
It kind of feels good to write again. 
NaNo was a bust for me today. I had major computer problems. …. still do. So I’m going to have play some serious catch up this weekend.
I do this too! Usually around page 25. One thing I DID Figure out is that (I think) sometimes your subconscious needs time to work out how the story is going to go. I do this a lot and then forget that this happens!
And sometimes you just go in the wrong direction and that’s why you get stuck. Two pieces of food for thought.
I’ve been working on novella #2 and I finally realized I need to back up and scrap like 6 pages. I’m WAY behind. I also have about 20 pages to write on novella #1 but I got a bullriding DVD to watch which might help me answer some questions I need to finish it up. I MUST hit page 50 on this novella this weekend and then at least next week I have extra writing itme but I also have kids……
I think that too - that the subconcious is working it out. Sometimes it takes me a week, sometimes a month.
And I’m sure you can knock out those pages!
I’m like that. I am a half pantser and half plotter and usually when I get so many pages in I have worked out the entire story in my mind and whamo–I have lost interest in the story–not to mention I am totally ADD so I gotta do a little of everything!